San Ignacio

On the west bank of the Macal River, about 35km from Belmopan, San Ignacio is a friendly, relaxed town that draws together the best of inland Belize. Surrounded by fast-flowing rivers and forested hills, it’s an ideal base from which to explore the region, offering a pleasant climate, good food, inexpensive hotels and frequent bus connections. The town is usually referred to as Cayo by locals, the same word that the Spanish used to describe the offshore islands – an apt description of the area, which is set in a peninsula between two converging rivers. The early Spanish Conquest in 1544 made little impact here, and the area was a centre of rebellion in the following decades. Spanish friars arrived in 1618, but the population continued to practice “idolatry”, and in 1641 Maya priests threw out some Spanish clerics. Tipu, the region’s capital, retained a measure of independence until 1707, when the population was forcibly removed to Guatemala.

There’s little to do in San Ignacio proper, though relative to other Belizean towns, you can spend many pleasant days here, as it’s both relaxed and low-hassle and the streets of the centre are lined with good bars and restaurants, many of which are inexpensive. The Saturday market, meanwhile, is the best in Belize, with local farmers bringing in plentiful fresh produce. Numerous independent tour operators offer superb guided trips to nearby attractions, including Actun Tunichil Muknal and Caracol on the borders of the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. There’s some turnover among tour operators, so it’s always worth asking at your hotel about what’s currently being offered. The town also has some of the best-value budget accommodation in the country, and you’ll almost always find space.

Explore

Find out more

Cahal Pech

The hilltop Maya site of Cahal Pech (daily 6am–6pm; Bz$12), twenty minutes’ walk west of San Ignacio along the road to Benque Viejo, is well worth a visit. There’s a good chance you’ll have the forested ruins all to yourself, and although the structures are not particularly tall, the maze of restored corridors, stairways, plazas and temples is enchanting. Cahal Pech was the royal acropolis-palace of an elite Maya family during the Classic period, and there’s evidence of monumental construction from at least as early as 400 BC, though most of the remaining structures date from the eighth century AD. The visitors’ centre and museum has a scale model of the site, excellent displays and a variety of artefacts. Entering the site itself, you arrive at Plaza B, where your gaze is drawn to Structure 1, the Audiencia, the highest building at Cahal Pech. From the top, the ruins of Xunantunich are clearly visible to the southwest. Behind Structure 1, in Plaza A, is a restored three-storey temple, as well as other sacred buildings.

Actun Tunichil Muknal

Actun Tunichil Muknal (tours around US$85, including lunch, entry fee and transport from San Ignacio; you must be accompanied by a licensed guide to enter), in Roaring Creek valley, gets its name (“Cave of the Stone Sepulchre”) for the astonishingly well preserved skeletons, fourteen in total, of Maya human sacrifices found here. As the cave has historically been inaccessible to looters, little has been touched since the Maya stopped using it over a millennium ago, and the artefacts are spellbinding. Perhaps the most dramatic sight is the skeleton of a young woman lying below a rock wall – and nearby the stone axe that may have killed her. The cave is certainly worth the high price of a tour; note, though, that you’ll need to be pretty fit and able to swim to do the trip; for much of the time you’re wading knee- or even chest-deep in water.

Barton Creek Cave

Barton Creek Cave (tours around US$60, including Bz$20 entry fee; you must be accompanied by a licensed guide to enter) is also accessible only by river, though this time by canoe. Framed by jungle, the cave’s entrance is at the far side of a pool, and inside the river is navigable for about 1600m before ending in a gallery blocked by a huge rockfall. If it’s been raining, a subterranean waterfall cascades over the rocks – a truly unforgettable sight. The clear, slow-moving river fills most of the cave width, though the roof soars 100m above you in places. Several Maya burial sites and pottery vessels line the banks, the most awe-inspiring indicated by a skull set in a natural rock bridge used by the Maya to reach the sacred site.

Along the Macal River

Steep limestone cliffs and forested hills edge the lower Macal River, whose main tributaries rise in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve and the Chiquibul Forest. In the upper reaches the water is sometimes suitable for whitewater kayaking, though you’ll need a guide for this. A guided canoe trip, however, is by far the best way to visit one of the river’s top sights, the Rainforest Medicine Trail (daily 8am–5pm), in the grounds of The Lodge at Chaa Creek, 5km upriver from San Ignacio. The medical knowledge of the Maya was extensive, and the trail, dedicated to a Maya bush doctor (curandero), is fascinating: among the plants here you’ll see the negrito tree, whose bark was once sold in Europe for its weight in gold as a cure for dysentery. The Chaa Creek Natural History Centre, next to the Medicine Trail (daily 8am–5pm), offers a marvellous introduction to Cayo’s history, geography and wildlife. A combined ticket for both the above is Bz$20. At du Plooy’s resort, a few kilometres upstream from Chaa Creek, the ambitious Belize Botanic Gardens (daily 7am–5pm; Bz$20; t 824-3101, w http://www.belizebotanic.org) aim to conserve many of Belize’s native plant species in small areas representative of their habitats.

Along the Mopan River

Rushing down from the Guatemalan border, the Mopan River offers some attractive and not too serious white-water rapids. Though there’s less accommodation along the Mopan branch of the Belize River than there is along the Macal, what’s available is more within reach of the budget traveller, and staff can arrange river trips as well as excursions throughout Cayo.

Cayo Adventure Tours Based in Santa Elena t 824-3246, w http://www.cayoadventures.com. In addition to customized tours to the caves and ruins, a daily shuttle service to Belize City is available (US$30–35).

Easy Rider In the Arts and Crafts store on Burns Ave under Central O’tel t 824-3734, e [email protected]. Charlie Collins organizes the best-value horseriding packages in San Ignacio (US$30 for a half-day, US$50 for a full day).